Full Text of HR0957 93rd General Assembly
HR0957 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives wish to recognize John Chester of Chicago on | 4 |
| the occasion of his retirement; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, John Chester has been a key player in the | 6 |
| political and organizational development of Chicago's gay and | 7 |
| lesbian community for almost 30 years; a native of Detroit, he | 8 |
| is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a | 9 |
| telecommunications specialist by profession; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, Chester's first Chicago involvement was with the | 11 |
| Uptown Center of Hull House; it was there that he learned how | 12 |
| to adapt his considerable administrative skills and | 13 |
| organizational abilities to best advantage within a not for | 14 |
| profit business environment; he chaired the Uptown Housing | 15 |
| Committee, working to combat redlining and develop decent low | 16 |
| income housing along the lakefront; as an offshoot of this and | 17 |
| to help the working poor to establish credit, Chester founded | 18 |
| and served as the president of the Northside Community Federal | 19 |
| Credit Union; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, Chester was a founding board member of the | 21 |
| Crossroads Fund, also serving thereon as a gay/lesbian | 22 |
| community representative; he later served as a board member and | 23 |
| vice president of Dignity/Chicago during the period in which | 24 |
| the organization opened a permanent office; as a board member | 25 |
| and president of the Rodde Fund, he prompted the development of | 26 |
| the group's organizational infrastructure; he also served as a | 27 |
| board member and chair of Chicago House at a pivotal time in | 28 |
| this highly respected AIDS housing provider's organizational | 29 |
| evolution; and
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| WHEREAS, His first love, however, has always been politics; | 31 |
| in 1971, Chester joined Illinois Gays for Legislative Action to |
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| work on an early version of what would later become Chicago's | 2 |
| human rights ordinance; in 1973, he was a founding member of | 3 |
| the Gay Rights Task Force of the Alliance To End Repression, | 4 |
| which became the Illinois Gay Rights (now Gay and Lesbian) Task | 5 |
| Force; in 1977, he became co-chairperson of the IGRTF's State | 6 |
| bill project, remaining actively involved until 1983; during | 7 |
| the early 1980s, Chester was the president of OPEN | 8 |
| (Organization Promoting Equality Now), Chicago's first gay and | 9 |
| lesbian political action committee; he is currently the | 10 |
| president of the Illinois Federation for Human Rights Political | 11 |
| Action Committee, and he serves on the boards of directors of | 12 |
| Personal PAC, which supports "pro choice" candidates for | 13 |
| office, and Illinois Public Action, which promotes utility and | 14 |
| health care reform; and
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| WHEREAS, In addition, Chester has been highly visible in | 16 |
| his support of and work for many individual candidates for | 17 |
| public office; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 19 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 20 |
| congratulate John Chester on his well deserved retirement and | 21 |
| wish him good health and happiness in all his future endeavors; | 22 |
| and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 24 |
| presented to John Chester as a token of our respect and esteem.
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